Page 970 – “…went the sons of Elrond.”

And so it is that the men of Rohan return to their homes. This pushes others to leave Minas Tirith, until the city is left with mostly just its normal inhabitants, rebuilding from the destruction of war.

The Fellowship Company also remains, though it’s getting past time for them to part as well. Though Frodo wants to head back to the Shire, Aragorn is keeping them all there for some day in the future that he’s looking forward to. He won’t say more, and neither will Gandalf, who clearly knows something about it.

Why they gotta keep secrets?

A day comes when Gandalf leaves the city with Aragorn before dawn. They climb an ancient road up the face of the mountain just behind Minas Tirith, then look back into the dawn to see the lands before them. I don’t know why yet, but it sounds like a nice hike.

Really, though, it seems like a strange reason to be holding everyone hostage. Neither Aragorn nor Gandalf will say anything, but this seems to be the day that was in waiting. And it’s just a nice hike for the two of them? Something must come of this, or else it’s pointless.

Ah, but that’s just me getting ahead of myself again. An entire page of “you can’t leave yet” doesn’t strike me as a very good use of our remaining time. Am I becoming overly cynical here at the end? Well, it’s been a long time.

No one dies today.

“And standing there they surveyed the lands, for the morning was come; and they saw the towers of the City far below them like white pencils touched by the sunlight, and all the Vale of Anduin was like a garden, and the…”